Heinrich Baermann (1784–1847) is one of the most revered clarinettists in history and was the epitome of the nineteenth-century virtuoso. His close relationships with Mendelssohn and Weber resulted in a substantial amount of important clarinet repertoire, and his influence is felt in the clarinet community to this day. Around Baermann was released in 2023 on the Canadian record label, Leaf Music. As the title suggests, the album is made up of repertoire composed for or by Baermann. Refreshingly, this album strays from the most often performed of the pieces inspired by Baermann, Weber’s Concertino and two Concerti, and offers a more focused look at this man, his close friendships, and what we can learn about his musicianship. The CD comes with liner notes by the featured performer that provide some historical context, although there are no sources cited.

Around Baermann is the debut album of period clarinettist, Maryse Legault. She studied historical clarinet performance with Eric Hoeprich at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag and is pursuing doctoral work at McGill University. Early Music America named her an emerging artist in 2023. Joining Legault in this endeavour is Gili Loftus, an Israeli pianist who resides in Montreal and specializes in fortepiano, modern piano and harpsichord. On this album she plays a Rodney J. Regier copy of a Viennese fortepiano (c. 1820–1840).

Heinrich Joseph Baermann and his brother Carl, a bassoonist, were both trained at the School for Military Music. There, Baermann studied with early clarinet virtuoso, Joseph Beer, a Bohemian who is considered the father of the bright, penetrating French style of clarinet playing. Later, while in Berlin he studied with German clarinettist, Franz Tausch (pp. 2–3). It is speculated that this exposure to the rich, expressive timbre of the German style, along with the power and penetration of the French approach, is what gave Barmann the unique tone that is praised in the numerous reviews he received throughout his career.Footnote ¹ This tone inspired Mendelssohn to write to him, ‘I would give the whole of Paris to be able to hear even for a minute that sweet world of magic tones of every grade that stream from your wooden instrument so light and bright, so mellow and low, flowing and glowing, clear and dear, pure and sure, clinging and singing so sweetly’.Footnote ²

The exceptional quality of Baermann’s sound may also be attributed to his equipment and the way that he used it. Amand Vanderhagen, in is Nouvelle méthode pour la clarinette modern á douze clés (1819), provides a fingering chart for a twelve-key clarinet which he indicates is the one that Baermann played.Footnote ³ We know that, while contemporary virtuosi were experimenting with mouthpieces made of ivory, and while there was not yet a standard for whether the reed should be placed on the upper or lower lip of the performer, Baermann performed on a wooden mouthpiece with the reed placed on the lower lip.Footnote ⁴ This undoubtedly contributed to the sweetness of his tone, and had immeasurable influence throughout the clarinet world.Footnote ⁵ Indeed, as the liner notes in the album discuss, ‘Frédéric Berr … professor of clarinet at the Paris Conservatory from 1831 on, mentions Baermann in his 1836 method as a model to be imitated, insisting that the clarinetist gave performances with pianissimos unheard of in France’ (p. 3).

The instrument on which Maryse Legault plays in Around Baermann gives us a glimpse of what Baermann’s tone may have resembled. As indicated in the liner notes, Legault performs on a 2015 Laura Schönherr replica of a Heinrich Grenser clarinet (c. 1810) (p. 6). In personal communications with the clarinettist, she says that her twelve-key clarinet is made of Boxwood, has brass keys, and rings made of horn at the joints of the instrument. These are all features that would have been typical of a Nineteenth-Century clarinet like Baermann’s and differ from the modern grenadilla wood with 17 nickel or silver keys, 6 ring-keys, and nickel, silver, or gold rings at the joints. These differences are part of what make the historical clarinet sound slightly thinner, more penetrating, and a little less stable than a modern clarinet tone. The grenadilla wood that is used most often today is also heavier and less prone to warping than Boxwood, which better supports the weight of the modern keys and allows today’s clarinettist to play louder. Like Baermann, Legault plays on a German wooden mouthpiece, also made by Schönherr, and a string ligature. Most modern mouthpieces are made of hard rubber, which mellows out the tone a little bit, and modern players often choose metal ligatures to aid in tone production, tough there are still plenty of ligatures made of chord. Legault believes that the primary difference between her Grenser replica and the Griessling & Schlott instruments that Baermann played is that his clarinet had slightly larger tone holes.Footnote ⁶ This would have made the intonation more challenging. Throughout the album, Legault plays with a clear, bright sound that sings beautifully. Her ability to move agilely through all registers of the clarinet is enviable even by the standards of a modern instrument. The keys that have been added to the clarinet in the last 200 years serve to make playing chromatically more idiomatic and facilitate one’s ability to play in all key areas. The mid-nineteenth-century additions to the key mechanisms that were made by Louis-Auguste Buffet and Hyacinth Klosé, inspired by Boehm’s flute developments, (recessed holes, springs, ring keys, rotating rods, and a more logical fingering system) help the modern player both with dexterity as well as intonation.Footnote ⁷ While Legault does have a few intonation problems in the chalumeau register, this is to be expected on a period clarinet that lacks the Boehm system modernizations, and she makes up for this by truly exploiting the tonal capabilities of the instrument.

As Legault’s liner notes describe, Heinrich Baermann met Carl Maria von Weber in 1811 in Darmstadt, and then again shortly afterward, at a party in Munich. After this meeting, Weber immediately began work on his much beloved Concertino, op. 26, the warm reception of which resulted in the commission of the Concerto No. 1, in F minor, op. 73 and the Concerto No. 2, in E flat major, op. 74, both completed in the same year (p. 3). In 1812 Weber and Baermann embarked on a tour. As the story goes, while in Prague some local sponsors were frustrated that Baermann and Weber had only prepared solo works for performance. So, Weber went to work creating a set of variations based on the aria ‘Weh mir, es ist gesehen!’ from his opera Silvana which was his most popular work to that point in his career. Baermann worked with Weber on the highly ornamented adagio variation and edited the rest of the clarinet part for the work that opens this album, Variationen über ein Thema aus de Oper ‘Silvana’, op. 33.Footnote ⁸ This is a hefty, 16-minute piece that is not performed as frequently as the other Weber clarinet works. It begins with the aria’s theme in the clarinet, which Legault approaches in a heavy, operatic way that shows respect for the source material. The piano and clarinet alternate variations and Legault draws a rich tone from her instrument and has admirable control throughout all ranges. During the piano variations Gili Loftus plays expressively and lends direction and enthusiasm to the music. The natural push and pull that she gives to the technique carry the listener through the phrase. The emotion that the duo puts into the adagio variation is heart-wrenching and a perfect example of the power of German Romantic music, while the final variation flies with light, joyous technique from both Legault and Loftus. This performance makes the listener feel closer to the two friends who first performed the piece and it is easy to imagine the charming and theatrical personality that contemporaries often described in Baermann.

While it is widely acknowledged that Baermann often collaborated with the composers who were writing for him and made his own contributions to the works, fewer people are aware that he wrote a great number of pieces for himself. There are 29 known works of varied instrumentation written by Heinrich Baermann, but the opus numbers on these works extend to 38. The next track on Around Baermann is one such work: Baermann’s Introduction and Polonaise, Op. 25. This piece was published in 1822 by Breitkopf & Härtel and appears to have been popular during Baermann’s lifetime. The work is a comfortable 7 minutes, and it allowed Baermann to express himself in the somewhat free, heavily ornamented Introduction, and then demonstrate his technical prowess in the dizzying Polonaise. While the Introduction is performed with eloquence and taste, Legault truly shines in the Polonaise. As is common in Baermann’s works, the Polonaise includes intimidating ornamentation and fiery runs. Legault manages these challenges with a light timbre and exquisite intonation while maintaining the fun, dance quality of a Polonaise.

The third piece included in Around Baermann is Felix Mendelssohn’s Clarinet Sonata in E flat major, MWV Q15. In the notes Maryse Legault says “In 1824, at the age of fifteen and already recognized as a child prodigy, Mendelssohn was greatly impressed by [Baermann’s] refined playing and decided to compose a sonata for him (p. 4)”. As evidenced by the number of letters between the two men, they remained friends for years. Mendelssohn once wrote of Baermann, ‘He is one of the best musicians I know; one of those who carry everyone along with them, and who feel the true life and fire of music, and to whom music has become speech’.Footnote ⁹ Indeed, when Baermann began to tour with his son, Carl, he commissioned Mendelssohn to write two works for them to perform. These are the Konzertstück No. 1 for clarinet, basset horn and piano in F minor, op. 113 and the Konzertstück No. 2 for clarinet, basset horn and piano in D minor, op. 114.Footnote ¹⁰ The Clarinet Sonata in E flat major is a lengthy 23 minutes and poses technical challenges for both performers. Legault and Loftus open this Sonata with a beautiful, mournful Adagio which gives way to the Allegro moderato. Loftus’ treatment of the ostinato-like arpeggios beneath sweeping clarinet lines is smooth and fluid. The fierce clarinet technique at the end of the first movement is executed with evenness and precision. The duo clearly shares a musical vision of the work and communicate it well. The second movement opens with a haunting clarinet solo which is made more transparent by the light timbral quality of Legault’s period instrument. This sensitivity is mirrored in the gentle lines of the fortepiano. The final movement of the sonata is a bouncy Allegro moderato full of the character and humour for which Mendelssohn’s mature works are known. The duo leans into this style in a way that harkens back to the jokes that Mendelssohn and Baermann shared in their many letters.

Following the Mendelssohn Sonata is Baermann’s Nocturno, op. 21, written in 1821. In his compositions Baermann often shirked formal traditions in favour of showcasing his technical proficiency, or to serve his recital structure. Many of his pieces, including this Nocturno, have three distinct sections, often with their own key centre, tempo, and style. These sections rarely, if ever, revisit earlier material and it is tempting to call them separate movements. They are, however, played continuously, resulting in a through-composed one-movement piece. Baermann uses a similar structure in his Divertimento, op. 35. The Nocturno opens with a dark and driving introduction in the clarinet which displays Legault’s even technique. After a short pause, the second section is a sweet, yearning melody. The variation of colour that Legault brings out of her clarinet here is inspiring. In true Baermann fashion, however, this section ornaments the simple melody with arpeggios that showcase Legault’s uniformity of tone and light touch. Following some scalar motion in the piano, the third section of the Nocturno begins with winding clarinet triplets, another favourite compositional tool of Baermann.

Probably the most familiar and frequently performed work on Around Baermann is Weber’s Grand Duo Concertant, Op. 48, written in 1815–1816. The opportunity to hear it played on period instruments is unique, and it is handled remarkably well by this duo. Past scholars sometimes debated whether this work was written for Baermann, as it relies less on tonal beauty and more on technical fireworks than the other Weber clarinet works. For this reason, some have speculated that it may have been written for Simon Hermstedt, another clarinet virtuoso of the time who was more of a technician and the muse for Ludwig Spohr’s demanding Clarinet Concerti.Footnote ¹¹ Most current scholars, including Legault, believe that this was Weber writing specifically for himself and Baermann to perform. This theory accounts for the demanding nature of the piano part and the fun interplay between the two parts. Legault and Loftus blend beautifully together, particularly in the second movement of this work. The elegant third movement flows well and Legault demonstrates her clear tone, light articulation, and even technique one last time, ending the album on a figurative high note!

While the Weber Grand Duo is the last work on the physical CD, Leaf Music generously provides three digital bonus tracks that are accessed by scanning a QR code on the inside cover of the album. These bonus tracks are the Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano by Caroline Schleicher-Krähmer. At a time when it was unusual and difficult for women to make a living for themselves, let alone in music, Krähmer was a contemporary of Baermann’s who performed on clarinet, violin, and piano. Maryse Legault says that clarinet was Krähmer’s favourite instrument, and the reviews of her performances often compare her to Baermann and Hermstedt. Having grown up in a musical family, Caroline Schleicher studied composition with Franz Danzi and toured as a performer on all three instruments. While on tour, she met and married Johann Ernst Krähmer, an oboist and csakan player. They toured and performed together often.Footnote ¹² This eight-minute Sonatina opens with a simple, sweet Larghetto movement followed by a Waltz-Trio that is reminiscent of a typical German dance. Finally, the Polacca brings the piece to a raucous close for both the clarinet and piano. While not included on the hard copy of the album, this charming, if unexpected, work is a welcome addition among those written for Baermann and is expertly executed by Legault and Loftus.

Overall, Around Baermann provides an important glimpse into the timbral world that Baermann created. It is a pleasure to hear something akin to the tone that inspired so many of the masterworks of the clarinet repertoire and it is wonderful to see that it was explored with such thoughtful use of tone, style, and shape. The repertoire chosen by Maryse Legault and Gili Loftus, and the intentionality with which it was approached belies the skill that these musicians possess and the respect that they have for the subject matter.